More Than One Kind of Pain
by I-Can-Spell-Confusion-With-A-K
Summary: After Harry hits Draco with that curse in year 6, Hermione feels herself feeling strangely guilty. After she volunteers to help him recover, will she learn something about him she never knew? Will Draco learn something about himself that he never believed


Author's Note: I know I just posted "Pathetic" and I'm still working on "Just One" but here's a little something else. This is part 1 of what I think will be a little 3 part story. It was written for the Valentine's Day challege at Granger Enchanted, even though I pretty much missed the deadline :p Anyway, I hope everybody enjoys and I promise I will be updating "Just One" soon. If you can't tell this takes place during HBP though some things may have to change as it goes on. For now assume everything is cannon. Review if you have a second!

P.S. I don't own anything!

"Enjoying the show, Granger?" Malfoy practically snarled up at her, his eyes flashing dangerously, daring her to laugh at him. But the thing was, Hermione wasn't scared that he was going to hurt her, not one little bit. The truly shocking thing was, Hermione was afraid that he was truly hurting under that thin veil of contempt and despite all of their less than friendly history she still hated to see anyone in pain.

Hermione held out her hand to him hesitantly, offering him the only peace offering she had at her disposal. For a moment she thought that he would take it, his eyes flickered to her extended hand, a brief look of confusion crossing his face so quickly she almost could have imagined it. Then his gaze hardened more than ever, and he tried to push himself off of the floor, careful to avoid even the briefest contact with her hand. He only made it to a partially sitting position before he realized he didn't have the strength to make it back to his bed, causing him to glare at Hermione even more fiercely.

"I don't need help from the likes of you," He practically spat, as Hermione quickly retracted her hand, feeling more than a little foolish.

"Well, it seems to me as if you do," Hermione snapped, hands on her hips, glaring down at the boy currently sprawled out on the Hospital Wing floor. "Because you're the one who's lying on the floor, and like it or not, I'm the one Madam Pomfrey left here to look after you, so do you want to get up or not?"

He spent a few more seconds pushing at the floor half-heartedly in an attempt to get up on his own, but finally he returned his gaze to the Gryffindor girl before him.

"Touch me as little as possible, Granger," Each word seemed to be physically forced from his lips, and he wasn't meeting her eyes. "And let's get this over with quickly, shall we?"

"Yes, lets," Hermione replied curtly, kneeling down without further hesitation and positioning herself under Malfoy's arm. "Ok, 1…2…3!" Hermione stood carefully, pulling him with her ignoring his groans and curses. She maneuvered him as quickly as possible towards the hospital bed he had fallen out of ten minutes before, and lowered him onto it as gently as possible.

"Ouch! You can let go of me now, Granger!" Malfoy snapped, jerking his arm away from her and flopping back onto the mattress. His tone was as harsh as ever, but Hermione noticed that his face was even paler than normal and it was obvious that he was still in a lot of pain from the curse.

Hermione's stomach clenched painfully at this knowledge, as it always did. She'd _known_ that Harry's potions book was nothing but trouble. Something about this "half-blood prince" had given her the creeps right from the start. So when she'd heard that Harry had cursed Malfoy with one of the hand written spells from that book…she'd been far more terrified than she'd wanted to admit. She couldn't explain why she felt responsible; after all, she had tried to warn Harry, to dissuade him from using it with every argument she could think of. But the fact remained that he had used it, and she did feel guilty, and she was Hermione Grange after all. And Hermione Granger didn't just sit around feeling badly, she was the type of person who had to _do_ something.

_One Week Earlier:_

_Hermione was rushing towards the Hospital Wing trying not to let herself contemplate what exactly she meant to do once she arrived there. She'd been in the Prefect's bathroom when she heard Moaning Myrtle come screeching through the pipes crying and screaming hysterically. She'd heard just enough to gather that Harry had either killed or seriously maimed Malfoy before she had sprinted off for Gryffindor tower to find Ron. When she'd arrived she was shocked to find Harry, shouting at Ron that they had to switch potions books, and all at once she understood exactly what had happened. Harry had used one of those hand-written spells and now he was trying to cover it up. Hermione loved Harry like a brother, but at that moment a feeling of disgust had washed over her as she watched Harry's panicked expression as he sprinted out of the tower. _

_And then had come the overwhelming urge to __**do**__ something, to make herself useful to attempt to work off this terrible, guilty feeling. So without really understanding why, Hermione had found herself jogging off towards the Hospital Wing where she knew Snape had surely taken Malfoy. Hermione reached the door to the Hospital Wing and hesitated for a moment, realizing fully for the first time how ridiculous it was that she had come at all. However, the guilty feeling over ruled everything else, and Hermione pushed open the door._

_The scene before her was one of barely controlled chaos, Malfoy was sprawled across one of the beds, his robes soaked through with so much blood it sickened Hermione instantly. His face was paler than Hermione could ever have imagined anyone's face could be while they were still alive and the only sign she could see that he definitely was still alive was the fact that one of his fists was slowly clenching and unclenching. Madam Pomfrey was casting healing spells frantically while at the same time trying to remove Malfoy's robes and summon what Hermione would have considered Muggle supplies such as bandages. She was obviously overwhelmed, and Hermione guessed that Snape had been too busy dealing with Harry to send anyone else to help her yet. Making her decision in an instant, Hermione entered the room without hesitation and reached Malfoy's beside almost immediately._

"_Miss Granger!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed in surprise, not stopping her frantic actions but her annoyance showing anyway. "You must leave! You can not be here!"_

"_You need help!" Hermione protested, drawing her wand. "He needs help!" She gestured to Malfoy and mentally begged the nurse to see reason. _

_Madam Pomfrey seemed to reach a decision, and nodded in a relieved manner, knowing this wasn't the time to ask what the Gryffindor was doing there.  
_

"_Remove his robes," She instructed, continuing to cast spells so quickly Hermione couldn't even catch them all. "Spells alone won't stop the bleeding, he needs pressure on the wounds."_

_Hermione nodded, refusing to allow herself to examine the embarrassment that had initially flooded her mind at the nurse's order. She could blush after she saved the boy's life! Hermione quickly did as Madam Pomfrey said, stripping Malfoy down to his boxers, grimacing at the ghastly sight of the deep cuts covering nearly ever inch of his chest. She grabbed a long bandage and as Madam Pomfrey levitated him a few inches off of the mattress Hermione determinedly wrapped the bandage around his chest, pulling it so tight that her muscles ached from the strain. With a final yank, Hermione bent forward to secure the end of the bandage, focusing intensely on the task at hand. Hermione was about to straighten up when suddenly Malfoy's hand seized her wrist, causing Hermione to nearly jump out of her skin._

"_Malfoy?" She ventured, her voice little more than a whisper, the thought of him hexing her with his dying breath floating through her mind briefly. _

_When Malfoy's only answer was a soft, pained moan, and a tightening of his grip on her wrist, Hermione looked to Madam Pomfrey questioningly._

"_He's lost a lot of blood," She explained, eyeing the two students before her with a critical eye. "I doubt that he's aware of who's wrist it is he's holding, Miss Granger. Normally after an injury like this I'd have given him something to make him sleep, but with this particular spell it's very important that he remains at least somewhat conscious. And his dressings will have to be changed often…" The nurse sighed glancing at Malfoy's face that was contorted in pain. "I know Mr. Potter must have been provoked, but this is really a very serious matter." _

"_I know," Hermione answered quietly, as she stared dazedly at Malfoy's hand around her wrist. "Madam Pomfrey, I could…I could help you…with…him."_

_Madam Pomfrey eyed Hermione carefully than nodded curtly. "Normally I would never allow a student to work with me in this manner, but I simply can not attend to Mr. Malfoy at all times. Miss Granger I trust that as a prefect you will be able to keep your work here confidential?"_

"_Of course," Hermione answered, not sure at all what she had just gotten herself into. Of course, she found out very quickly. Madam Pomfrey handled all the spell work but Hermione helped her change the bandages twice a day. Her most important task turned out to be sitting with Malfoy and making sure that he didn't sleep for too long at one time. For reasons Hermione didn't fully understand the curse he'd been hit with caused his healing to slow down while the he slept. So Hermione sat beside his bed during her free periods as well as a few hours after dinner and did her homework. For the first few days she didn't actually have to do anything to keep Malfoy awake because his pain was keeping him in a fevered state of being barely conscious. _

_It wasn't until the third day as Hermione was buried in her Ancient Rune's homework that Hermione heard Draco moan loudly enough to break her concentration._

"_No! No! He's going to kill me!" _

_Hermione rose slowly from her chair, and approached Draco's beside feeling almost fearful for some reason. Reaching out slowly she placed her hand on his shoulder, putting just enough pressure to let him know someone was there._

"_Shhhh," She whispered, hoping he voice sounded soothing but feeling pretty sure it just sounded nervous. "It's ok, no one's going to hurt you, everything's ok." _


End file.
